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Darbin Orvar - Girl in a Shop
My adventures in building, diy, construction, testing and finishing.
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The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and that means it’s time to start planning our outdoor projects! If you’re looking for an affordable, beginner-friendly build that will transform your patio, I’ve got the perfect one for you.
Let’s start with a weird question: If you lived for 200 years, would you actually become a genius? Or would you just… be you, but older? That’s the thought experiment that’s been rattling around my head lately. We all like to imagine that immortality would turn us into polyglot violinists who’ve read every book and solved cold fusion. But deep down, I wonder: Would I really learn Mandarin in Year 87? Or would I just keep rewatching The Office forever?
Picture this: A small wooden paddle, covered with animal horn and etched with the alphabet. For over 300 years, this unassuming tool—called a hornbook—was the gateway to literacy for millions of children.
It’s a piece of history most of us have never heard of, yet it shaped the minds of thinkers like Isaac Newton, Shakespeare, and even early American pioneers. Today, I want to introduce you to this fascinating relic—and explore why its simplicity might hold lessons for our tech-saturated world. (And of course we’ll build one as well!)
Wax polish might be one of the most versatile finishes you can keep in the shop—or even the kitchen! Whether you use it on wooden projects to enhance their beauty, on metal to prevent rust, or for any of the myriad other uses, wax polish is an incredibly handy item to have on hand.
Every year around this time, I dive into making Christmas-related projects and presents. There’s just something fun about creating gifts from scratch—and this year, I’ve been putting my laser engraver to good use.
It's almost time for Christmas, and if you're looking for some special presents to give or make - I wanted to share some of the unique things we have to offer from our shoppe.
Everything we sell, we make and design in our workshop, nothing is made elsewhere. We have some favorite things that we always carry in our shoppe such as our wax polish, and then we usually introduce something new every now and then as well. This year I have a new tool, a beautiful awl. In addition to this we also offer many building plans, and I have collected a few here, that I think would be especially great for gift giving…
The days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and that means it’s time to start planning our outdoor projects! If you’re looking for an affordable, beginner-friendly build that will transform your patio, I’ve got the perfect one for you.